Google quietly launches the Google+ Share button

As mentioned recently on the official Google+ Developers blog, the development team behind Google+ has launched a sharing button for users of Google+. Google already has the +1 button to allow users to recommend content. The +1 button is similar to the Facebook Like button and acts as a public endorsement of the content. The new Google+ Share button is fairly identical to the Facebook Share button and allows Google+ users to share a piece of content with specific friends, circles or a collection of email addresses. The Google+ Share button also displays user pictures of friends that have shared the same link. Similar to the +1 button, the button shifts from a gray background with red font to a red background with a gray font after content has been shared.

While the Google+ development team hopes that this new button will help users share content with friends without having to endorse it first, there’s little reason for publishers to adopt the Google+ Share button when the +1 button accomplishes the same action as a secondary step.

After a user clicks the +1 button and hovers over that button with the mouse, an identical share overlay appears. Users can perform the exact same action as the new share button and encourage more friends or circles to read it. The only advantage to using the Google+ Share button over the +1 button is that an endorsement of the URL won’t appear in public search results.

Anyone can add the Google+ Share button to a personal site using the code found at the Google+ Platform section of Google Developers. Google hasn’t announced any major launch partners for the new button, quite opposite from the approach Facebook took with the Subscribe button. As of the past few months, many publishers have adopted the Pinterest sharing button as the upstart social network has driven more referral traffic back to sites than Google+.

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